Murray savors his theft

November 19, 2006|AMBER GREVISKES Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Jordan Murray made an easy read at the Army 42-yard line and reached up, grabbing Brady Quinn's pass. Murray said he was just playing good football, but when he swiped the ball out of the air, the junior broke Quinn's streak of 226 straight passes without an interception, the longest streak in Division I-A this year. The interception, a pass intended for Jeff Samardzija, was Murray's first this season. "It's an honor to break Quinn's streak," said Murray who also had eight tackles. "I got a good jab from the linebacker. It made my job easy, I just had to make the read." Murray's interception set the tone for the opening quarter, proving that Army's down-to-the-wire games against the likes of Texas A&M weren't flukes. "(Murray) came back in the last couple of ballgames and played the way I thought he could play," Army coach Bobby Ross said. The interception could have been considered part of Ross' ultimate plan to deny the Irish long passes. The Black Knights (3-8) moved the ball six yards on the next series, but the interception shocked the Irish (10-1) and their fans. At the quarter's end Army held a 3-0 advantage over ND after Austin Miller kicked a 27-yard field goal. Miller's second field goal attempt, a 39-yarder with 2:55 left in the third quarter was blocked. Miller is 12-of-16 for the season. "We came out everybody was on the right cylinders and everything was clicking," Army freshman quarterback Carson Williams said. "That's the first thing we said when we got back to the sideline. We watch them on TV all the time, but they're still human. But then, they kind of took it to us. They're a very good team." Fumbling opportunitiesSecond-quarter slideTime for a touchdown